Day of activities highlights choices for disabled people
Paralysed former rugby player Matt Hampson and disability minister Esther McVey joined more than 2,000 visitors at an event for disabled people.
They helped officially open the Choice Unlimited event at Leicester Tigers' Welford Road stadium on Wednesday to show what equipment and services are available.
It included displays of electric wheelchairs and vehicles, a Formula One racing car simulator and demonstrations for young people by the Leicester Cobras wheelchair basketball club.
Exhibitors representing employment, education, health and social care showed visitors the sort of services they could provide and a theatre area was set up for a speed networking session, workshops and a young person's question and answer time.
The event was organised by the Leicester Centre for Integrated Living and topics discussed included the Olympics and Paralympics.
In the photo above, left to right: Matt Hampson, Esther McVey, Steve Cooper (CEO of Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living)
Hundreds due at disabled event
An event aimed at providing information about services for young disabled people is hoping to attract more than 2,500 people today.
The Choice Unlimited event is being held at the Tigers Stadium, in Welford Road, Leicester.
It has been organised by the Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living (LCIL) and will feature more than 200 exhibitors showcasing innovations, services and products available for disabled people and carers. Doors open at 10am. LCIL patron Matt Hampson and a number of Paralympians will also attend as special guests.
This letter appears in today's Leicester Mercury (though not on its website).
Coverage of event was disappointing
Catching up with back issues of the Mercury after the Easter break, I
was looking forward to reading some good coverage of the recent Choice
Unlimited event at Leicester Tigers on Thursday 5 April.
Imagine my disappointment, then, to see the short article, “Ex-tigers
hero roars approval for fair” (Mercury, April 7). There are several aspects of
the piece that are disappointing: it was unclear what it was all about, but
mostly credit was not given where it’s due.
It was reported that Choice Unlimited had the support of Leicester City
Council, Leicestershire County Council and Voluntary Action LeicesterShire.
That’s true and they all contributed to preparations and to the success
on the day itself, helping showcase products, services, information and
guidance available to disabled people and their carers. But Choice Unlimited
didn’t spring fully-formed out of thin air.
Someone had to come up with the idea, get it off the ground, enlist
support, gather momentum and bring it all to a successful conclusion. And that
“someone” was the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership (REDP).
REDP is a collective of Voluntary and Community Sector organisations
working together to promote equality and celebrate diversity.
At its core are four Leicester organisations with a track record of
collaborating across different equalities for as long as ten years now. Our
influence and engagement has extended in the past few years to embrace the
whole East Midlands . The four city-based founder members of REDP are Leicester
Council of Faiths; Leicester and Leicestershire Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and
Transgender Centre; The Race Equality Centre and Leicestershire Centre for
Integrated Living (which took the lead role in Choice Unlimited).
The coverage failed to mention the ground-breaking nature of Choice
Unlimited (it was the first of its kind anywhere in the East Midlands) nor was
there any indication of the tremendous success of the event. More than 160
exhibitors participated and an estimated 2,500-3,000 service users came through
the door – every one of them a potential customer in this new era of personal
budgets for care services and products.
REDP is already in advanced discussions to present Choice Unlimited in
other parts of the East Midlands. We’d still like it to be known that
Leicester was the birthplace of this trail-blazing first presentation.
You might wonder why this matters, two weeks after the event and ten
days after the Mercury’s coverage. Choice Unlimited signalled the birth of a
new way of doing things for disabled people in the city, county and Rutland –
kicking off a new era of choice and control. And at REDP our phone lines and
inboxes are still red hot with those keen for information and asking when we’ll
be doing it again. And they show no sign of cooling down!
George M Ballentyne
Stoneygate
This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:
Ex-Tigers hero roars his approval for fair
Ex-Tigers player Matt Hampson supported a fair showcasing services for disabled people.
National changes in the provision of care means disabled people are now given personalised budgets to spend instead of councils paying for services.
Choice Unlimited took place at the Leicester Tigers Stadium on Wednesday, to show people what services and products are available.
Former Tigers and England prop Matt Hampson, who is confined to a wheelchair after his neck was broken in a training session, made a special appearance.
He said: "Events like this give disabled people a voice and enable them to steer their lives in the direction they wish it to go."
Choice Unlimited provided information about accommodation, domestic support and education services to help the disabled make informed decisions about their spending.
The event was supported by Leicester City Council, Leicestershire County Council, and Voluntary Action LeicesterShire.
David Barsby, development officer at Voluntary Action LeicesterShire, said: "This was a great opportunity for local providers to meet potential customers."
That's Matt in the photo above, with Steve Cooper, Chief Exec of Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living. Regrettably, the article makes no mention of REDP as the event organiser and conveys nothing of the spirit or success of the event - and it gets the day wrong.
